


That Sunshiny Feeling

by httpsawesome



Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Beach Trip, Bucky is jewish, Deaf Clint Barton, F/F, Modern AU, Multi, Road Trip, Slow Build, and has a prosthetic arm, angie is puerto rican, more to be added - Freeform, part of my femslash challenge, this will be a long one coming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-09-14 05:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9164389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/httpsawesome/pseuds/httpsawesome
Summary: A band of teenagers all stuff themselves into one van and drive from New York to the Outer Banks, North Carolina."The couches were stuffed with teenagers hanging out, leaning on each other, and just having a good time. Jennifer was able to catch the tail end of their conversation, but she can not guess the context of “It was just like that joke in Drake and Josh except with more quiche.""





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> part of my New Years Resolution was to write something every month, so hopefully I stick to it because I have a lot planned for this one!
> 
> This is unbeta'd so excuse spelling, grammar, and future canon mistakes.

Cousin Bruce: want to go 2 the beach?

Jennifer: it’s 10:00 on a school night?

Cousin Bruce: y are u awake its like midnight you have school tomorrow

Jennifer: I’m not the one who wants to go to the beach.

Jennifer: also it sounds like you’re the one who needs to go to sleep.

Cousin Bruce: you r correct

Cousin Bruce: Im not going tonight i’m going when you get off of school. summer break starts this week right? come with m

Cousin Bruce: e to the beach. my friends are coming too.

Jennifer: do I know any of them?

Cousin Bruce: nope.

Cousin Bruce: well u might know natasha. shes a senior at west over so shes close to your age and location. she wants to meet u t

Cousin Bruce: omorrow and bond w u. your mom aleady said it was ok.

Jennifer: okay. . . . .

Cousin Bruce: go to sleep

Jennifer: get a better phone

Cousin Bruce: im poor. go to sleep

 

 

 

For a split second, as pale streams of sunlight filtered through her blinds and covered her room, she thought it was going to be a normal day. Then the conversation with Bruce trickled in her mind and knew to not set anything in stone.

Jennifer likes to wake up early, because she has the qualities of a mysterious creature called a Morning Person. She got it from her mother, who will still be at the house for about ten minutes while Jennifer is awake before she has to go to work. It wasn’t strange that when Jennifer sleepily made her way down the stairs she met her mom in the kitchen, but it _was_ strange to see her making breakfast. Eggs only, it seems. 

“Aren’t you going to be late for work?” She stopped at the entrance of the kitchen, peering in from the living room, a wave of anxiety building a pit in her stomach. 

“I’m great at time management.” She didn’t look up from the eggs, which were making the transition from frying pan to plate. “Scrambled with cheese, one has spinach, that one’s yours. Let’s dig in.” She smiled, pulled out a chair for her, and sat at the end of the table next to it. 

“What’s the big deal today?” Her spike of anxiety was gone now that she didn’t assume her mother would be late on a day that would suddenly be more important than any other day which would result in her being fired, them losing their house, and the both of them dying in the cold streets of New York. 

“I had a talk with my mother recently.” She was eating quickly as she talked, a part of her time management. “She talked about when she would cook breakfast every Friday I had school; I remember looking forward to it every week. Nobody could recreate the muffins she made, especially Betty Crocker believe me.” She paused eating and looked down sheepishly. “I felt bad I never did the same for you.”

“So is this going to be a regular thing?” Jennifer didn’t even make a dent in her eggs before her mom was putting her plate in the sink.

“I’m gonna try.”

“It’s a weird Friday to start, don’t you think?” 

“What do you mean?” She was pulling on her coat over her uniform and looked at her quizzically. 

“Last day of school.”

Realization set in her face. “Oh that’s right! Maybe I’m bad about this time management thing after all.” She quickly gave her a kiss on her forehead before walking out the front door. “Don’t be late for school, love you!”

“Love you!” Jennifer echoed back, focused mainly on the eggs. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as they say. 

 

 

 

Waking up early allows for more time to wake up, think about getting ready, waste forty minutes on the computer in your pajamas, and be dressed and in your car with the same amount of time to get to school than if she woke up twenty minutes ago. It really makes a difference; she would recommend everyone wake up earlier. 

At some point when she was procrastinating getting ready, she asked Bruce exactly what the plan for today was. She doesn’t know what is happening with this Natasha besides the fact that they’re supposed to meet. Supposedly. Where is this happening? Who knows. When? Who knows. Bruce never texted her back so she doesn’t know. She just has to let her anxiety to shut up for long enough to allow her to go with the flow. 

Easier said than done. 

Her drive to school was normal - no music on the radio, just morning talk show hosts. DL Hughley is a personal favorite. Extra traffic when she gets to the street with the Mcdonalds - with teens crossing the street from the Mcdonalds because fast food breakfast is better than school ‘breakfast’. Even pulling into the school was normal - the aging English teacher accidentally pulls into the student parking lot and makes trying to park that much longer, just like every morning. 

Normality stops when a person standing right in the middle of her parking spot. A girl, with short red hair and a leather jacket with a bunch of buttons on it. Someone she has never seen before. 

The girl gave her the ‘wussup nods and backed away only enough for her to park her car. 

“You Bruce’s cousin?” The girl asked as soon as Jennifer got out the car. Her tongue was purple. 

“I am.” She stepped out of her car and the pieces started being put together. “Are you one of his friends?”

“I am.” She smirked. “I’m Natasha, nice to meet you.” She held her hand out with an offering. A lollipop. Bright red showing through the plastic. “We’re gonna meet up with the rest of the gang later today.”

“After school, right?” She took the lollipop because hey, free food. It wasn’t root beer flavored so it was delicious and not garbage.

“Bruce said you were a nerd.” She teased, and Jennifer took it in the friendly way. “The plan involves playing hooky like a rebel.”

“I can’t - I have a test today.” Natasha gave her a look and she felt obligated to continue explaining. “First period I have Chemistry and - “

“With Ms. Jones?” Jennifer nodded. “Ah shit, she sucks. I don’t even go here and I know that. Anything after first period not as shitty?’

Usually she wouldn’t consider skipping, but something about Natasha gives her the urge to impress her. Something about her cool, detached manner and green eyes shining with mischief and secrets only she is supposed to know. It’s not like today is important, it’s the last day before summer break she reasoned with herself. And she wants to meet all of Bruce’s friends. She has a bunch of excuses just like that. “Not really. I can give my mom a call and have her check me out.”

“Front office is still run by seniors right?” Jennifer nodded. “That won’t be necessary.”

“I'm pretty sure you're not on the list of people allowed to check me out.”

“Yeah, I’m not.” She smirked again. “But I got connections. Just trust me. Go ace your test.” She began to walk away before Jennifer had one last question.

“How did you know this is even my parking space?” 

“I asked a few questions.” She was walked backwards, away from the school and Jennifer. “Mostly dumb luck.”

After that exchange, Jennifer became very excited to meet all of her cousin’s friends.


	2. Chapter 2

Jennifer did not arrive late for her class, and thus she did not miss the unique experience of an entire class holding its breath as a packet of questions no one can expect a high school student to know landed with cold, clinical, detached emotion that only a teacher can delivery. That breath will continue to be held until the time limit is called and the test is over and everyone lets out a sigh of relief, and some may be tempted to cry.

Tests have never been a problem for her, if the answer doesn’t immediately come to her than she just picks C and by pure luck alone she hasn’t gotten below an 80. The usual rhythm is that she fills out the scantron, waits a few minutes, turns in her work, everyone on her side of the classroom turns in their work, then the other side turns in there’s as soon as someone gets a photo sent to them.

But today she is … distracted.

There’s no better word for it - instead of remembering exactly what a mole is, all she can think about is the surprise visit today. Wondering what ‘I got connections’ really means, wondering how she’s going to get out of here. Wondering what she’s going to miss for today. She didn’t think about her other classes when talking to Natasha, just eager to impress. Her fourth period is math and even though Mr. Carter never said anything about a test he might give them one anyway, and she’s gonna miss it and get a zero. Maybe that will bring her grade down and she will never get her grade up and then she’ll get held back a year and never get into law school and -

Someone behind her nudged her shoulder and she was brought out of her thoughts. She hasn’t filled in an answer in several minutes, lost in thoughts. Putting all those thoughts and ideas and worries aside and banged out the last of the answers so she could have a moment to think about something other than chemical compositions.

And something not anxiety driven would be best but that’s like recommending a song to a radio station that only plays Constant Anguished Screaming.

Jennifer had the rest of the class period to think, overthink, daydream, or obsess over what is supposed to happen in Bruce’s plan and even then that wasn’t enough time for her to get the correct answer.

It did give her enough time to finish the lollipop sitting at the bottom of her pocket. Cherry, her favorite.

 

 

 

As soon as class let out Jennifer left the classroom with more eagerness than she ever had before, which is saying something because the class is a living Hell, and made her way to the front office instead of her next class. On the way she smiled at Mr. Carter and complimented him on his tacky Hawaiian shirt. Sometimes teachers are more excited than kids for summer break.

Surprisingly enough, Natasha was already there. Sitting on the administrator desk with a new lollipop. As if that was something people did.

When Jennifer walked through the door Natasha plopped onto the floor, her black boots making a thud on the carpet. “Ready to go?”

“Uh - yeah. I mean, I got all my stuff.” She finally got a focused eye full of the buttons on her jacket label. Most are images like a smiley face, rainbow, or emoji ice cream. A few with words on them like ‘Survivor of the Emo Phase’ and ‘Act-Up!’. They’re bright swatches that stand out against her jacket, white Henley, and black skinny jeans with boots. Goes with her red hair long enough to just barely cover her ears.

A very attractive, well put together outfit.

“Your tongue is red.”

“It was the lollipop.” She said lamely. Of course it was the lollipop what else would it be she didn’t need to tell her that.

Natasha just nodded before turning to the boy behind the counter that Jennifer payed no attention to or even noticed before now and asked “Gonna let us go?”

“Remember our deal.” He said as he wrote something down, probably a signature allowing her to leave. “And don’t let him give you an excuse this time.”

“If he doesn’t want to call you, I’m not gonna force him.” She took the lollipop out of her mouth and gestured lazily with it. “All I can do is remind him you exist.”

“Better than nothing,” He looked at Jennifer and smirked with a raised eyebrow. “Have fun with this gang, they’re exhausting.”

“Please,” Natasha rolled her eyes. “You never even met Tony, you can’t complain.” She walked out, with Jennifer quick on her heels. Natasha rode shotgun and Jennifer drove. It only took 3 songs for the both of them to arrive back at her house, except now there was a large hipster van in the parking lot. The type of van that makes her think of the 70′s and as she pulled in she could see through the windows that there’s comfy looking cushioned seats inside. The roof had a lot of luggage strapped on top of it, strapped in so it wouldn’t fall off going at top speed.

She wanted to ask who’s van it was (and how they got that particular shade of green so she can use that for everything she owns) but Natasha was already out and walking to the front door. She sped up to be right behind her.

The couches were stuffed with teenagers hanging out, leaning on each other, and just having a good time. Jennifer was able to catch the tail end of their conversation, but she can not guess the context of “It was just like that joke in Drake and Josh except with more quiche.”

“What’d I miss?” Natasha asked as an overwhelmingly amount of heads swiftly turned in their direction. There was a chorus of Hey!’s as she saw Bruce leap up from the couch and give her a hug, which made her realize just how long it was since they last saw each other.

“Hey Bruce,” She eagerly returned the hug. First thing she noticed was that he stopped wearing nerdy glasses that were too vintage for the 80′s and now gives off the impression he cares how people see him. His hair is also longer, no longer a small mound of black curls on top of his head and now it curls around his ears. “If you don’t get a haircut soon, it’ll start to match mine.” Her hair was also thick black curls, but it was long enough to swish past her neck when there was wind.

“I think I can pull it off, don’t you?” He smiled.

Someone coughed obnoxiously “Are you going to introduce all of us or should we just leave?” Jennifer looked over and saw that a baby-faced guy while gesturing wildly. He almost spilled the drink in his hand all over the girl with strawberry blonde hair he was wrapped around.

“That’s Tony, you’ll get used to him.” Bruce assured her. “And that’s Pepper, a blessing in disguise.”

“Thanks,” Pepper paid no attention to Tony, who was acting exaggeratedly offended at what Bruce said, and instead nudged another guy she was sitting next to. His head jerked up and it seemed like he was nodding off or possibly was asleep. “This is Rhodey. Rhodey, say hi.”

“Oh yeah,” Natasha said as he waved at Jennifer. She plopped down on the couch next to three guys, a very pale guy sitting on the lap of a black guy with a another white guy sitting at the end seemingly not minding the fact that he’s being squished (Bruce introduced them as Steve, Sam, and Bucky) “Thomas wants you to call him.”

Rhodey grimaced as everyone let out a scandalized ‘oooOooo!’

As Tony reached over Pepper to tease Rhodey about whoever that guy in the front office was, Jennifer finally started to venture in the room and make conversation herself. She stood next to two girls sitting in her armchair, one of the other’s lap, and formally introduced herself. “Nice to finally meet you, Jennifer.” The girl being sat on spoke with a British accent and smiled. Her lips were a bright red and it matched perfectly with her dark brown hair. “I feel like I know you with all Bruce has said. I’m Peggy,”

“I’m Angie,” The other girl continued. She had her arms wrapped around Peggy’s neck and her hair was put in a braid and wrapped around her head so it looked like a crown, it was really cute. “Are you excited for the trip?”

“I barely know anything about it, to be honest.” She replied sheepishly. “This is a lot of people just to go to the beach, isn’t it?”

“It’s not just any ol' beach sweetie.” She too had a accent, a Puerto Rican accent, but this wasn’t as strong as Peggy’s was. “This is going to be a week long trip. We’re going to the Outer Banks.”

“Really?” Even though Angie and Peggy looked very excited at the prospect, Jennifer felt her stomach dip in panic. “I’m not prepared for a any long trip and - and I never talked with my mom about a long trip I don’t know if I can.”

“Oh yeah,” Bruce interrupted her from across the room. He was laughing at what Tony still trying to pester Rhodey but he obviously doesn’t want to stop cuddling Pepper so he’s just forcing himself into weirder and weirder positions. “I talked with your mom before I asked you, she said it was okay.”

“Oh,” She remembered him saying that in his text last night but It didn’t relax her. All she can think about is how her mother didn’t even remember that summer break started for her today. If she forgot she’s going on this trip she won’t be okay with her skipping school today either.

Bruce continued on as everyone started laughing at Tony when he straight up fell off the couch (she heard Sam call out “Just give it up man, let him be.”) “You have some time to pack, Clint isn’t even on his way here yet.”

“Knowing Clint, it could either take all day or in the next few minutes.” Natasha seemed to be the only one not interested in the Dramatics of Tony. “Need any help packing?”

“Ooh! That sounds fun!” Angie uncurled herself from Peggy and excitedly stood up. Peggy smiled in that ‘my dork girlfriend is a dork’ way and stood up. “Wanna come Pepper? We could use some good old fashioned female bonding.”

“You’re going to ask Pepper to pick out an outfit when you have two gay guys right here?” Sam spoke up. It looked like he wanted to place his hand on his chest like an offended and shocked Southern-Belle but it didn’t work too well with Steve covering most of his torso.

“Well do you want to help?”

“No he does not.” Steve said pointedly. He looks like someone who very much does not want to move, which only became more obvious when he pushed his face into Sam’s neck. Bucky called them nerds.

“I think that settles that then.” Natasha said and gestured for Jennifer to take the lead up the stairs. The five of them all end up standing around, her guests not wanting to seem impolite by just going through her things and Jennifer not knowing where to start.

“Where should we begin?” She asked, feeling like a terrible host.

“A suitcase.” Natasha stated. Her voice sounded blunt, almost like she was angry, but her face said she was amused. Either she really was being a terrible host and making her mad, or that she was being laughable. She doesn’t know which one makes her feel more embarrassed.

“Uh yeah, it’s in my - “ She gestured towards her closet but before she started moving towards it Pepper spoke up.

“I got it. “ She beat her to the doors with a smile.

“It’s above - “ Jennifer started to say that the suitcase was on the shelf above her clothes but Pepper was already grabbing it and bringing it down. It was hard plastic with a print of comic book heroes on it, most from the Justice League.

“Ooo, I like this!” Pepper held it in her hands looked at in intently. She pointed at Batgirl with her pink acrylic nails. “She’s my favorite.”

“She’s one of my favorites too.” Pepper didn’t give off the impression of liking nerdy things, more like the girl who singly handily runs Student Government and only dates guys that she thinks will better her future. She certainly holds herself as a professional.

“How do you have so much energy?” Peggy asked, looking sincerely surprised. Both Natasha and Angie voiced swift agreement. It was so quick that it was almost funny.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Instead of looking at them she gave the suitcase to Jennifer. “Most essential things are underwear and bras, and enough for at least seven days.” Her saying this was just her trying to change the subject, but it didn’t work. She walked away to her drawers, but before she did anything she got out her phone and quickly sent her mom a text. “you know about the trip I’m going on right?”

Just in case.

“All I’m saying is that if I was going to pull a double-feature midnight movie I would be just like how Rhodey is.” Peggy said.

“Tony's doing just fine.”

“Tony always runs off of less than four hours of sleep.”

Pepper sighed either in defeat or as a reaction to her boyfriend’s horrible sleeping habits. “I fell asleep during the second movie, not even sure how I did that - it was another musical.”

“What was it?” Jennifer asked, voice full of excitement. She walked back to the group, having gathered all of her underwear and bras, just in case, and her swimsuit which was stuffed away there for who knows how long. She must have seemed overeager because they all looked at her with a little surprise.

“It was Rocky Horror and the sequel. I forgot the name.”

“It’s Shock Treatment.” The title song drifted into her head, which after all the times she’s seen it it’s second nature by now. “I love Shock Treatment I can’t believe you slept through it.”

“Sorry,” Her eyes crinkled around the corners. “I just don’t like musicals all that much.”

“Do you?” Natasha asked.

“Oh I love them.” The theater nerd in her could come out any minute and cause her to list her top ten favorite musicals just from an era, but she held back. Natasha nodded slightly, and Jennifer was unsure of how to interpret that.

“Don’t mean to interrupt,” Angie interrupted. “But I thought we came up here to pick out some outfits.”

 

 

 

They were up there for some time, looking through all of her clothes and packing what Jennifer agreed to. They all had something to say about every article of clothing, with Pepper always picking out the clothes perfect for the beach. Angie would say no to almost everything she picked and instead picked out the prettier clothes, which may not be more comfortable. Peggy, wanting to tease, complained that she didn’t have anything that would make her look distracting and sexy so no one would notice the drugs in the car. Natasha just wanted them to pick out a handful of T-shirts and call it done.

By the time that Sam called up the stairs “Clint’s here, you guys done or are you finished?” They were in fact, done and finished. The suitcase was stuffed with neatly folded clothes, enough for more than a week, and Jennifer walked down behind everyone dragging it by the extended handle.

Natasha reached him first, giving him a hug. He had pale blonde hair, a bandaid on his face, and hearing aids that were the exact same shade of bright purple as his shoes. Clint spoke first, arms lazily wrapping around her like old friends. 

“Hey dork.”

“Hey asshole.” Natasha let go of him and he clapped loudly and yelled “Who’s ready for a ROADTRIP!”

Everyone started whooping and cheering, and Jennifer got very excited about what may happen in the next week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Approx. Ages  
> Steve is the oldest, at 19-20  
> Sam and Bucky are a few months younger. Also the only three that aren't in high school anymore  
> Clint, Natasha, Bruce, Peggy, and Angie, are seniors  
> Jennifer, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey are juniors. 
> 
> After this they get on the road! Woohoo!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the road trip, and also Clint is dumb.

The van was a lot roomier inside that she would imagine; the cushioned leather seats she saw a glimpse off through the windows were white leather and aligned along the van walls and back, so unlike a normal car there was a lot of foot space in the middle. 

“Whose van is this?” Jennifer asked as the group was starting to get in. Like a normal van, the back doors opened. Unlike a normal van, there were seats in the way that had to be flattened and then climbed over.

“It’s mine,” Steve said as he got into the driver’s side.

“It’s so cool,” 

He smiled warmly. “Thanks,” 

She saw Sam get in on the passenger’s side, which is what she expected, but she noticed Rhodey get in on the other side.  

Bucky and Clint were the last to get in and they sat side by side. They were roomier since they were the only ones not pushing more people then recommended for two-seater cushions. Of course, the seats were the most used and had Mysterious Stains so really, they were the unlucky ones.

After getting closer to the seats she saw that they have all been through a lot of wear and tear - some sections have sewn in patches to cover holes, there is a ketchup stain on one of the seats, and it is very easy to tell what seats are newer than others since the older ones being more tan than they have a right to be. 

Steve’s car seats have seen more of the world than Jennifer has. 

At least there’s seat belts. 

“Come on, let’s get the show on a role!” Tony yelled, apparently, the excitement almost too much for him.  

“It’s on the road, dumbass.” Natasha said. Her backs were slouched, her legs stretched out, and her face is full of fondness. Her arms stretched out on either side of her, so both Jennifer and Peggy have the privilege of sitting in the crook of her chest. If she leaned back even slightly, there is a brush of warm contact that is almost too much on the summer afternoon.

Angie dug around her jacket pockets for a minute and pulled out multiple CD’s in clear plastic cases with sharpie writing on it. She handed it to Sam and sat back down, Peggy’s arm settling on her waist.

“How many songs did you just give me?” 

“Almost 200.”

“You slackin’ girl.”

“There’s a CD with every NSP and Starbomb song ever released.”

“I take that back.”

“Babe can you stop being distracted by the music and pull up google maps.” Steve interrupted. Sam gave him a Look, but instead of backing down he fired back “Unless you know exactly how to get there on your own, of course.”

Sam gave him the blankest look, waiting for him to retract the attitude. But he never did. “I guess it’s time to dust off my Grindr app, now that I’m single an’ all.” Sam said so plainly and matter-of-fact.

“Just remember, don’t send nudes until you talked to them for at _least_ 10 minutes.”

“Oh no, mom and dad are fighting.” Clint pouted “I wonder if there’s gonna be a custody battle.”

“I’m going with Sam.” Pepper stated bluntly. Most of the car agreed with her statement, all except Jennifer and Rhodey. And Rhodey only because he was already asleep.

“Wow, okay, I guess I can go fuck myself then.” Steve threw his hands in the air dramatically at the realization that none of his kids really love him. 

“I’ll go with you.” Jennifer piped up.

“Thank you Jennifer.” He looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You’re my favorite now, by the way. You’ll take care of me in my old age as well, I assume.”

“I’ll find the best nursing home I can find on my budget.”

“I guess that’s all I can hope for.” He sighed.

Sam did eventually get the GPS going, but only after Steve gave him an apology kiss and sweet words, and they were on their way.

 

Rhodey wasn’t asleep for long, only about 15 minutes, and he was more refreshed than ever. 

“Finally awake, Rhodey-bear?” Tony called out to him. “You really need to get better at partying.”

“I’m pretty sure a party calls for more alcohol and less Tim Curry in stockings.”

“Oh yeah,” Jennifer said as if she just thought just occurred to her, that she was just now reminded of this. “I heard that you watched Rocky Horror and Shock Treatment last night.” She tried very hard to make it seem like she was not waiting for the perfect moment to bring this up.

“Hell yeah we did.” Tony answered. “These chumps claim to top-notch queers, but they never saw Rocky Horror.”

“I don’t like musicals.” Pepper defended herself, but she obviously found it amusing.

“Shock Treatment is one of my favorite movie musicals.” Jennifer tried not to gush. She didn’t notice Natasha to her right give a small, fond smirk at her before forcing her face into the Purposely Aloof and Unapproachable Resting Face she has.

Tony seemed sincerely touched by that statement, like he never thought he would find someone to be as equally nerdy and invested as he was about musical theater. Or Tim Curry in stockings.

 

 

“Oh my god you guys have been talking about musicals for 15 minutes, _please shut up.”_

“Let the nerds have some fun Clint, no one stops you from talking about archery for hours at a time.”

“That’s because archery is badass Nat and I’m always right.”

 

 

 

“A family can be Tim Curry and Laverne Cox fighting for the same role in a duplex.”

“The fuck is a duplex?”

“A house with Tim Curry and Laverne Cox in it.” Bruce looked Bucky directly in the eyes and downed an entire water bottle in one go, as if that was a perfect conclusion to a statement.

Jennifer waited until the last drop was gone before she said “I spit in that.” and Bruce started gagging as everyone laughed.

 

 

 

“Do you still play Dungeons and Dragons?” Angie asked, looking at Pepper.

“Oh no, I had to leave the group.” She shook her head solemnly. The van echoed back that feeling, wanting to know why she left something she looked forward to so much.

“This guy kept hitting on me and it got awkward.” After she said that, Tony’s face turned sheepish and he tried to hide it by taking a long drink of water. He wasn’t fast enough though. “What did you do?” She turned to him.

He did not answer. It turned silent, tension building as every second passed by. Steve even turned down the music so all you heard was the engine continue and Tony drinking more and more. Eventually he stopped, let out a sigh, and tried to joke off the tension with a ‘Refreshing!’

“What did you do?” Pepper asks again, stern.

“I may or may not have – “ He started.

“Nuh uh uh.” She wagged her finger in his face, and the car of teens went “oooooooo!” as she continued. “What did you do?”

“I put his number on the bathroom stall to a BDSM club and wrote ‘I like watersports and I want a good time.”

There’s a split second of silence before an explosion of laughter burst out of everyone. Even Pepper wasn’t immune; her look of stern, no nonsense ‘pissed off at my boyfriend’ cracked and she let out a smile and huff of laughter. It deteriorated into adorable giggles. “How did you – “escaped through the laughter “even find a BDSM club?”

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulder as she pushed her face into his chest. “Google.”

 

 

 

It’s barely 30 minutes on the road before the group starts complaining about hunger, cramps, and the world at large. Mostly how the world in that very moment is nothing but the inside of a van full of hungry, cramped teenagers. Luckily, the solution to those problems lie in the Arby’s sitting right at the exit.

“Alright,” Pepper said, grabbing a pen and mini journal from her pocket. “What does everyone want?’ She clicked the pen and was poised like she was preparing for a long day at work as a waitress in a shitty chain restaurant where they sing non-copyrighted versions of happy birthday.

“I want four orders of loaded fries.” Clint immediately said. At some point, without Jennifer ever noticing, Clint had stretched out completely, with his legs standing straight up on the van’s walls and head in Bucky’s lap. He moved to take his hearing aids out and turn away from the group, which wasn’t enough of a hint to Jennifer of the chaos that is about to come.

“I already have yours, Clint.” Pepper says even though he can’t hear her. “Now – “

In sync, the car filled with noise of everyone yelled what they wanted. It was like a bomb went off, but instead of causing causalities it caused Jennifer to jump in her seat. She heard Sam yell “a double quarter pounder and extra fries”, next to her Natasha yelled “a burger with two milkshakes, both chocolate” and Tony yelled “if you don’t know my order I’m leaving you for Rhodey”.

When Jennifer jumped, she fell into Natasha fitting almost like a puzzle piece. Except roughly, not at all how you would ideally want to fit a puzzle piece. Her head banged her shoulder, and Natasha acting on impulse by bringing her own arm in closer and squeezing Jennifer closer to her body.

Bruce was the first to respond. “Please stop feeling up my cousin.”

Jennifer stayed there for a moment, not quite processing what just happened. Most of the yelling has stopped, except for Tony who was going on about trust in a relationship or something. She slowly came to her sense and started rising back up. As soon as she moved, Natasha unleased her grip like something shocked her, but her face still seemed like nothing embarrassing happened.

“Uh,” Was all that Jennifer could say. It was all that came to her mind.

Except for the fact that whatever shampoo Natasha uses smells really, _really_ good.

“Okay, so I have what you want.” Pepper pointed a pen at Tony, who seems to not have noticed anything of what just happened. “Jennifer I don’t really know what you like.”

“Oh,” She turned away from Natasha finally, and tried to descramble her mind. She did not see Angie lean over Nat’s shoulder or hear her ask ‘what the hell was that?’

“Chicken sandwich.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? You know Tony is buying, we usually get extra to snack on later.”

“Just the sandwich, with fries. And a sprite.”

“Alright.” She wrote it down on the second page of the notebook. Jennifer wondered just how large Tony’s meal was.

 

 

 

Tony’s meal was very large. Especially combined with everyone else’s.

They couldn’t order all the food through the drive-through with good conscience – that’s something a mother of five would do just to get an opportunity to yell at the underpaid teenage worker – so everyone got out of the car as Pepper, Rhodey, and Tony went inside to order. It was a good opportunity to stretch your legs.

Except for Clint. He climbed to the top of the van and sat on a spot where the bags weren’t tied down to.

Jennifer was leaning against the car, perched on the outside of the group, just trying to take a breather. She was listening to but not participating in the conversation. Bucky was teasing Steve about something, Sam was trying to be a good boyfriend and not laugh, Peggy was laughing the hardest.

They flow together like a well-oiled machine. Where does she fit in?

Bruce leaned in right next to her, bumping her shoulders with his. “You liking the trip so far?”

“Oh yeah,” She didn’t hesitate. “I never knew you had such cool friends.”

“Of course, I only hang out with people as cool as me.”

“Oh really? Did you pay them to let you hang around?” It was almost a joke.

Bruce shoved her slightly, and they both laughed. He got serious again. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” He was so sincere that she didn’t feel like she had the right to feel like an outsider tagging along.

 “Me too.” She replied lamely.

“What are you losers talking about?” Bucky called over to the two of them, and they were swept up in conversations of if Clint would lick the windshield of the van if offered enough money. Bucky pulled out a crisp 10-dollar bill, and Clint jumped off the roof and walked to the front.

For a split second, Jennifer noticed that Clint was a few inches shorter than her. Not a lot of people are – even Natasha is the exact same height as her.

“No no no no no!” Angie yelled out while most of the group just watched. Clint was already at the front of the van. In order to get up close and personal with the windshield, he was going to have to plop his ass right on the hood. He succeeded in one clean jump; he crossed his legs underneath him, comfy as can be, and got a full look at the twitching bugs, spattered mud, and thin layer of pollen so thin that you can see exactly where the wipers move up-and-down.

“20 bucks.” He bargained.

“You’ll have to lick a full strip, left to right.” Angie was starting to gag at the image and Bruce was even getting a tinge of green, but everyone else was just wanting to see if he would even go through with it.

“Deal.” He said, already regretting it. Steve told him not to smudge up where he needs to see.

Bucky took the money out of his wallet, Clint took a big breath, and everyone hushed in anticipation.

He went for it. A single lick left from right. The group voiced disgust as Clint stopped halfway and started gagging off the side of the van.

“I can’t believe you did that!”

“That’s disgusting Barton.”

“That’s only ten dollars’ worth.”

“Don’t puke on my van.”

Clint got puke on the wheels.

“DID WE MISS THE CIRCUS ACT?!” Tony yelled from the other side of the parking lot. They had to have just gotten the order and – dear God that’s a lot of bags.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this took very long to write, its more than 2000 words and took almost 2 months to get to that point. If you like it please comment!

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr: http://httpsawesome.tumblr.com/  
> My best friend's tumblr: http://fish-mouth.tumblr.com/


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